Like it or Not, Osweiler is the Guy for 2016
By Josh McSwain
In today’s morning huddle, I made reference to a piece from House of Houston which said that it is time for Osweiler to be benched. But I think that move serves no practical purpose and while it might be popular would not be the right decision.
It’s no secret that Osweiler has not played well this season. His numbers for the season are 12 TDs, 13 picks, 2307 yards and a 59.5 completion percentage. But according to the Houston Chronicle, Osweiler is not the worst starting quarterback in the Texans history.
The HOH piece argues for inserting either Tom Savage or Brandon Weeden for the rest of the season. The author identifies the concern with inserting Savage–the front office doesn’t trust him yet. Honestly, to throw an untested player into the heat of a division chase could be detrimental to the team and Savage’s confidence in general; perhaps messing him up going forward.
But could he really be worse than Osweiler, you might ask? Possibly–this isn’t preseason and Savage will not have had the time with the first team in practice. Moreover, if Savage has a bad game are people going to clamor for Osweiler to go back in? Just a lot of unknowns with Savage.
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With Weeden, the author puts up the career numbers of Weeden, which were very disappointing in Cleveland and Dallas; but they are not worse than Osweiler’s. Weeden was able to get the job done for a couple games last season as the Texans chased the playoffs and got there, but that’s not saying much.
Lastly, the far out idea of making Braxton Miller the starting quarterback. I do not like this idea at all. He knew he didn’t have an NFL future at QB so he made the move to receiver.
Are any of these guys going to be much more than game managers? No. It’s disappointing that the most you can hope for from Osweiler is just to be a game manager, but it’s the situation the Texans are in and there is no changing it.
Keep in mind, Osweiler was fine in Denver last season as they pursed a division title and later a Super Bowl championship. He came through in some key moments that allowed Denver to get the #1 seed. It’s not pretty, but he has been in a playoff race before, he’s the one I would trust the most to handle the pressure.
I still believe that he can get better, so don’t give up on him now. Let’s hope that going into year two he can get better. We don’t want to become like the Browns and cycle through a new quarterback every year. It’s rough right now and it sucks, but barring a complete breakdown Osweiler will and should stay in the lineup.
He’s not a great option, but the others really aren’t any better. If the jump from year one to year two does not happen like we all expect it should, then the team can part ways with him. Until then, let’s really take the time and see what he’s got.